Happy Solstice 2010!
Last night I was fortunate to have clear skies in which to see the full lunar eclipse and celebrate the winter solstice. My companion while viewing the celestial spectacle was Ernie the goat (I don’t know where Bert was, probably in the shed):
I’ve also been blessed to be celebrating the holidays with family. There has already been a ton of great food, dancing in the kitchen with my 98-year old grandma and my mom (see below), and the unexpected gift of finding out this morning that The Locavore’s Handbook is number fourteen on The Daily Green’s 20 Best Cookbooks and food books of 2010!
Here’s my dad, Kelly Johnson, with an uninvited lunch guest a few days ago:
And here’s the start of a holiday spread I helped put together for some of my mom’s vegetarian friends. The hit of that meal was definitely the agro-dulce butternut squash. Or maybe it was the skordalia (Greek garlic dip). Whatever; it was all good:
The following day my mom’s husband, Frank Coberly, balanced out the vegetarian night by roasting a leg of lamb, and he was on chef duty again the next day making a Mexican-style meal with homemade tortillas (note to self: must get tortilla press. We’ve got good corn meals, if not masa, from locally grown corn at home in BK. Should work, right?)
Tomorrow I’m going to learn how to make my Dad’s pumpkin-pecan pie and we’re taking it over to Gideon and Anne’s.
Anyway, all the feasting and celebrating has meant lots of time in the kitchen. This is a video of me, my mom Penelope Lagios Coberly, and my Grandma Nea (Eugenia Kilgore) in the kitchen, but there’s very little cooking getting done:
3 Generations Dancing in the Kitchen
Here’s wishing you a Happy Solstice and New Year!
Cheers,
Leda
The Locavore’s Handbook: The Busy Person’s Guide to Eating Local on a Budget
Botany, Ballet, & Dinner from Scratch: A Memoir with Recipes
I LOVE seeing three generations of women dancing in the kitchen! That’s what the holidays should be. Kala Christouyena kai Chronia Polla!
Hello Leda,
My name is Amielle Zemach, and I lived with you and your mom in SF on Fillmore St. I was at Penelope and Kelly’s wedding, just before I returned to Santa Cruz. Is Penelope still alive? Still teaching? I would love to be in touch with her. Are you still teaching and directing? I would love to see your work. Please let me know. Thank you, Amielle
Hi Amielle. Yes, my mom is still alive but not teaching anymore. I am still teaching and directing, but more focused on writing my botanical books at the moment. Best way to reach my mom is via facebook (she’s there under her married name, Penelope Coberly). Good to hear from you!
Hi Leda,
Thank you so much for getting back to me. I am also most intrigued by your slow foodie thinking. I work at King Middle School, home of the Edible Schoolyard, and it is wonderful how the garden and the kitchen transformed the school, not to mention the condom strewn parking lot that became the garden now. I always thought it a good topic for a documentary and now that I have started a film company,PowerOn Flms, it might become a reality. Lots of projects ahead. Good to hear from you and please keep me in your loop. Blessings, Amielle
Dear Leda, I have been trying to catch up with Penelope Lagios for many years. Penelope and I were students at Ballet Celeste in San Fransisco in 1955 and I would love to catch up with her. I live in Australia now.
You can find my mom (Penelope Lagios) as Penelope Coberly on Facebook.